A liquid discharge head such as an inkjet recording head employs a piezoelectric element as a drive source for discharge of a liquid droplet such as an ink droplet. Typically, such a piezoelectric element comprises a piezoelectric thin film and an upper electrode and a lower electrode arranged sandwiching this piezoelectric thin film.
In order to arrange the piezoelectric elements with high density and to improve the voltage withstanding ability of the piezoelectric elements, for example Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-198197 discloses forming the piezoelectric thin film after patterning of the lower electrode in a prescribed shape.
Sometimes, however, with a conventional piezoelectric element as described above, the crystallinity of the piezoelectric thin film in particular in the vicinity of the edges of the lower electrode is insufficient, so that reliability could not be described as sufficient.
An object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric element and liquid discharge head of higher reliability and capable of withstanding high voltage, by securing excellent crystallinity of the piezoelectric film in the vicinity of the edges of the lower electrode.